Unit 9 Flashcards
axiomatic
adj. taken for granted
In nineteenth-century geology, uniformitarianism was the antithesis of catastrophism, asserting that it was axiomatic that natural law and processes do not fundamentally change, and that what we observe now is essentially the same as what occurred in the past.
bacchanalian
adj. pertaining to riotous or drunken festivity; pertaining to revelry
For some people New Year’s Eve is an occasion for bacchanalian revelry.
banal
adj. commonplace; trite
The writer has a gift for making even the most banal observation seem important and original.
banter
n. playful conversation
The governor engaged in some banter with reporters before getting to the serious business of the news conference
bard
n. poet
The great bards of English literature have all been masters of the techniques of verse.
bawdy
adj. obscene
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is the story of a group of Christian pilgrims who entertain one another with stories, ranging from the holy to the bawdy, on their journey to Canterbury Cathedral.
beatify
adj. to sanctify; to bless; to ascribe a virtue to
In the year 2000 Pope John Paul II traveled to Fatima in Portugal to beatify two of the three children who said they saw the appearance of the Virgin Mary there in 1917.
bedizen
v. to dress in a vulgar, showy manner
Paul went to the costume part bedizened as a seventeenth-century French aristocrat.
behemoth
n. huge creature; anything very large and powerful
In the 1980s and 1990s, the trend in American business was toward increased privatization of government industries (such as power generation), partly because it was believed that private industry is more efficient and partly because foreign private companies were becoming commercial behemoths, outstripping government-owned companies in competitiveness.
belie
v. to contradict; misrepresent; give false impression
The boxer’s childlike face belies the ferocity with which he can attack opponents in the ring.
